Tagged with history

My opinion on the Charleston cruise ship debacle-

I’m not quite sure where to start with this post, so I’m going to start where I think I should…it’s kind of like eating an oversized sandwich. 

First off, I think that the cruise ships should stay where they are. As in just coming into port on the weekends. It’s a nice surplus to Charleston’s economy which was nonexistant over 50 years ago. It balances out the slow days in the winter for the market, I’m sure. Just the same with college students not being in a college town for restaurants. It’s like big Saturday football game days. 

However, a cruise ship coming in everyday at the same time every week is just the beginning of chaos. Mayor Joe Riley (who I have the UTMOST respect for) loves the idea of the taxes generated and the fact the cruise ship port would be expanded into a a whole renovated area. Most visitors would hit the market, waterfront, and the historic homes that are located right near by. It might also attract and prompt more tourists throughout the year for personal vacations. I sat down with a wonderful lady who works a scarf stand at the market one day, and she was Mayor Riley’s #1 fan and supporter of the larger cruise ship port. The areas tourists would hit the hardest are no doubt amazing places, but it really impacts the area and how flow works downtown.

From a preservation standpoint, the idea of adding a larger terminal has added Charleston to the Top 11 Most Endangered Preservation List in the US. This is not only the same beating on the homes and historic areas of Charleston EVERY DAY, but it is in mass quantities. Sure, historic homes are visited throughout the day. Let’s take the Calhoun Mansion on Meeting Street for example. They have tours go out every so many minutes throughout the day, but these groups are of different size. The house will take a different sized crowd throughout the day, versus having a FULL tour for the hours the cruise ship is in port, for that many hours throughout the day. It’s all about balance. Over years, (for example) stairs from tourists visiting historic homes have caused indentations, damage to railings, etc. But can you imagine almost doubling the number of visitors to not just this home, but for most of the historic area? 

Not to ignore the green issue with the ships: The Charleston harbor is very dirty as is from just cargo ships. Underwater Archaeologists who explore the harbor can’t even see their own hands in front of them. They have to feel around for hours on end just to find shipwrecks. Opening the harbor to even bigger ships means that more of the harbor would be dredged, causing many millions of dollars of tax money to have to be used for that issue. In addition, dredging causes many wildlife habitats in the harbor to be destroyed. 

If you walk around downtown SoB, you’ll be able to see how most of the historic homes that are residences feel about the issue. I’d say about 3/4 are not huge fans. 

This is just my opinion…sorry for the long post. It had to be said. 

What is your favorite architectural style? —georgiangentility

OH MY GOSH this is such a hard question..how could you. No, kidding. I have a favorite. I’d have to go with Georgian (English) for my favorite architectural style. 

If you had to pick your five favorite books on history to recommend for me to read, which would they be? —intracoastal-wanderings

Side note: Thank you again for responding to this when I answered it privately hahaha! 

Let’s see! Well they aren’t all necessarily all non-fiction, but based on true events and true happenings. I’ll notate which are which. 

1. The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers - Thomas Fleming (Non-fiction)

2. The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara (Fiction)

3. Mayflower - Nathaniel Philbrick (Non-fiction)

4. Common Sense, Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine (Non-fiction of course)

5. Marie Antoinette - Antonia Fraser (Non-fiction)

Thanks for asking!

Do you think it would have been possible for the South to continue as an agrarian economy even after the slaves were freed, if it had resisted the industrializing pressures of the North? —Anonymous

Yes.

In my opinion, it’s all about the little engine that could here.

Personally, I believe the South could not COMPLETELY rely on agriculture- but they could be a 3/4 agrarian economy. They lost a major labor force, but as we see in the nearby future, tools were invented to make up for the loss in labor. Techniques could have been brought up that would’ve helped this issue, too. Anything could have been possible. 

I live on the west coast and have never been to the east/south before. Would you say there is still sectionalism? My history teacher is very biased against the south, so I am just wanting to hear a different point of view. —Anonymous

First of all, PLEASE come visit! We have lots of hospitality and beautiful places to show you (not that y’all don’t :))

I would say there is still sectionalism. Some people may fight me on it, but there’s definitely a different feeling when you enter the South and the North. I have various tourists come up to me and ask me questions on my campus, and they will say “Thank you for being so friendly! You guys are a lot more hospitable there.” I have family up North, and I love them equally, don’t get me wrong. They have beautiful and gorgeous places up North. I’m enamored with Boston, Philadelphia, Columbus, etc. 

As far as the whole, North vs. South thing or TRUE sectionalism aging back to the Civil War, no. That doesn’t really appear to happen to me anymore. You have some independent believers that seem to think the South will rise again, but it’s a load of bullmalarky.
I hope I answered your question adequately.  

Civil War: states' rights or slavery? and why? —Anonymous

Civil War was states’ rights, in my opinion. Ask someone else, and they might give you a different or generic answer.

I might answer this the backasswords way by saying that the Civil War was not just fought over slaves. It never was. There were many different reasons leading up to the southern states’ succession. In my impression of learning about the Civil War, I think the South was mainly struggling to keep up with the North. Sure, they had blossoming plantations and wonderful farmland. But they did not have industrialism. The North was leading in what they couldn’t achieve. So what did they have to rely on to keep up with the supply and demand the North could put out with their products? Slaves. Slaves were their source of labor. This was just only one aspect of what happened to the South. Obviously, because they did not have industrialism, they were lacking in money. They needed money to stay afloat (hint hint confederacy money in the future.)

These are just a few of my opinions about why it was states’ rights. Sorry I might have went the backwards way off answering the question. 

What do you feel is the most important historical event in American history? In other words, if we today could only know about one event (hypothetically), what would give us the best understanding as to who we are? —Anonymous

Y’ALL ARE KILLING ME TONIGHT. No jk, I’m writing thank you notes, so keep them coming :)

Good question.

This might be unpopular, but this is my opinion so here we go.

I’m going to go with various members of English society landing at Jamestowne, Virginia in 1607. They were from various walks of life, all looking for different things. Some were looking for religious freedom, others were trying to be successful planters, while others wanted a new life. This is one of the first experiences when we had to face extreme difficulties not only with climate control, but with befriending the locals (aka Native Americans), and trying to create a stable, domesticated land. Jamestowne was rebuilt a number of times. A true demonstration of communications between the neighbors can be seen between Weromocomico (Powahatan’s tribal lands) and Jamestowne, where the distance between the two was obvious, and how the lands correlated. Their struggles and success can be seen as the beginning of our country’s strength. Once again, this is all my opinion.

You may ask, why not the Pilgrims? I personally think the settlers at Jamestowne had more story and background than ever covered in any textbook.

Thank you for asking.